Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that he would step down “when the time is right” to take political responsibility for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) heavy losses in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections.
“Taking political responsibility is the supreme value of democracy that no one should ever go against. I am a person who preaches ‘long live democracy,’” Lai told a news conference at the Executive Yuan.
Asked whether the right time would be when the Legislative Yuan breaks for a recess next month or in 2020 for the presidential election, Lai did not elaborate.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The legislative session is scheduled to end on Dec. 31, but an extra session is likely to be held next month if next year’s budget is not passed by the end of the year.
Lai on election night offered his verbal resignation to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), saying that the results reflected public dissatisfaction with the government for which he has to shoulder responsibility.
Tsai, who resigned as DPP chairperson that night, did not accept his resignation and told Lai to stay “in the interest of political stability and continuity.”
On Nov. 26, Lai said he would remain in his post, because he was scheduled to deliver a report on the Oct. 21 Puyuma Express train derailment to the legislature the next day and must continue the Executive Yuan’s efforts to pass next year’s budget and other bills.
Lai yesterday said that he had accepted Tsai’s offer to serve as premier in September last year against the advice of many of his friends, because the government was already in a bit of a predicament at the time.
“I wanted to help, but it turned out a year later that it did not work out well,” he said.
Lai said he decided to stay on as premier regardless of the criticism heaped on him, which was “not for my own good, but rather for the interest of the whole nation.”
“I am utterly resolute in stepping down when the time is right to shoulder political responsibility. What we have learned from the elections about our mistakes will surely be addressed and will not just be empty words,” he said.
Only when he resigns as premier would Tsai have room to embark upon her agenda in a more vigorous way, he said.
Lai also presented a report detailing what the Cabinet saw as causes of public dissatisfaction with its policy planning and implementation.
He cited the government’s failure to ensure that the effects of the nation’s economic growth would trickle down to ordinary people, to protect the rights and welfare of farmers and fishers, and to spread the tourism benefits created by the increasing numbers of visitors from countries targeted by Tsai’s New Southbound Policy to the eastern and southern parts of the nation.
Hasty amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), failure to curb air pollution and the chaos during election day were also possible causes, he added.
The Presidential Office later released a statement saying that Tsai and Lai have achieved a high degree of consensus on a government reshuffle, policy adjustments and implementation.
Since the elections, Tsai and Lai have had intense exchanges of ideas and they both understand each other’s thoughts, the statement read.
“The president commends Lai for being a premier with a strong sense of responsibility. Lai’s decision to take the post and continue to perform diligently after the elections has been made in the interests of Taiwan,” it said.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
DISPUTE: A Chinese official prompted a formal protest from Tokyo by saying that ‘the dirty head that sticks itself out must be cut off,’ after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks Four armed China Coast Guard vessels yesterday morning sailed through disputed waters controlled by Japan, amid a diplomatic spat following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan. The four ships sailed around the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) to Taiwan, and which Taiwan and China also claim — on Saturday before entering Japanese waters yesterday and left, the Japan Coast Guard said. The China Coast Guard said in a statement that it carried out a “rights enforcement patrol” through the waters and that it was a lawful operation. As of the end of last month,
RSS